A Heated Debate Between Two Charismatic Geniuses: A Cardinal Fan (Jeff Lung) and a Tiger Fan (Allen Krause)

Results tagged ‘ World Series ’

Five seasons. Two Hall of Fame interviews. One World Series victory (well, for Jeff at least).

And now, 1,597 posts.

Red State Blue State was born out of the fiery email exchanges between Messieurs Krause and Lung during the 2006 World Series — a World Series that saw Jeff’s Redbirds trounce Allen’s Tigers (although until his dying breath Mr. Krause will blame the pitching fielding errors over an inept offense for Detroit’s shortcoming — one that would not be their last, obviously).

But it wasn’t just about the sports. Although RSBS started life as a baseball blog, the second and equally important pillar, was a shared enjoyment of the drama and often maddening inconsistencies with the American political system. We found a way to combine sports and politics with literary bindings, and from that we engaged in quite a few intellectual debates that strung our worlds together. The highlight of Jeff’s political revelations had to be his Libertarian coming out party — the one that Mr. Krause so dutifully lampooned.

For Allen, the Post-Partisan Playoff Preview presented an opportunity to truly combine postseason baseball and postseason politics into an orgy of prognostication. Sure, the only time he may have truly gotten it right was in 2008’s initial edition but he still made a valiant effort in the close but not quite there predictions of 2011 and 2010. Allen’s political evolution may have been less dramatic than Jeff’s as he stayed continuously true to his blue state roots but this led to a moment he’ll never forget, being there for the inauguration of Barack Obama.

However, probably our finest RSBS achievements have to do with a little ditty by David Archuletta and the underground hip-hop sensation, Jesus Hates the Cubs.

Today is a day different from all the rest. Today we publish our last post. It is not without sadness that we do this, but, like many others experience in life, the time has come for us to move on.

If you would like to follow Allen’s post-RSBS exploits, visit him at his new blog, The Nomadic Revue, where he will continue to provide political commentary as well as entertainment and restaurant reviews.

And if you would like to follow Jeff’s sensational running career (and all the creative introspection born from that), then check out The Run Factory.

More than anything, we want to thank YOU, dear reader. Thank you for joining us on our journey. Thank you for all your comments, all your emails, all your Twitter love.

I have to admit something. I watched more coverage of Hurricane Sandy hitting the East Coast than I did of the World Series. Part of this was superstition as it seemed that every time I turned on the Tigers, they proceeded to screw up. But part of it was also the sense of inevitable dread that emanated from the World Series starting during the third inning of the first game.

But it wasn’t just the putridness of the World Series. It was also the simple fact that it’s not every day that you get to watch a hurricane. More than that, how often do you get to see Anderson Cooper look like a bedraggled Chihuahua wearing a Karl Lagerfeld wig?

Maybe it would have been different if the Tigers had been at least somewhat competitive. Although it also begs the question, what would MLB have done if the Series would have overlapped with Sandy? Obviously the two cities competing weren’t directly affected by the storm but with the country’s largest media market, NYC, shut down by the storm, would it have even been worthwhile to play the games and lose the advertising dollars?

Ultimately it doesn’t really make a difference because the Series ended quickly and in a whimper. Sandy ended pretty quickly, too, but at least she let out a roar before fading away.

Well, that escalated quickly. Or maybe it’s more appropriate to say that de-escalated quickly. Seriously, for a team that closed out the Yankees with a 8-1 win, how can you go 20 innings without a run? If the 2006 loss to the Cardinals was embarrassing, this one will go down in the annals of humiliation.

However, now that we have that out of the way, the focus automatically shifts to the postseason awards. Of course the big ones that Tigers’ fans are waiting on are the Cy Young and MVP awards but there’s an even bigger award up for grabs this year.

Now, I don’t think it would come as any surprise to readers of this blog that I’m hoping for an Obama win next week. It’s unfortunate that the American electorate refuses to understand how much worse things would have been without an Obama presidency, and it’s a very real possibility that Willard and Captain Muppet could win this election.

I guess I’ll leave it at this. Look at what the candidates say and have said. See who has been consistent and figure out who you can trust. And then get out and vote.

-A

P.S. One quick question. Which is worse, getting swept or losing a 3-1 lead in a series? Either way, I think it’s pretty safe to say that both teams repped by RSBS did a pretty phenomenal job of sh!tting the bed.

That was bad for our health, man. That was one awful, no good, TERRIBLE World Series… unless you’re a Giants fan, of course. No lead changes til boring Game 4. Hitting juggernauts (one wearing three crowns) silenced throughout by the likes of Zito and Vogelsong. Justin Verlander s*%@ing the bed.

Admittedly, the Tigers could really use some horses and bayonets at this point if they want to be a little more competitive. But please, just keep all of them, and especially the bayonets, really far away from Jeff right now.

The names were different, yes, but the destruction was equally devastating. Maybe even more.

I’m talking about the EPIC FAIL that was the 2012 NLCS, compared to the one that first stopped by heart 16 years ago. Yes, in 1996 it was Todd Stottlemyre in the role of Lance Lynn, with Andy Benes as Chris Carpenter and Donavon Osborne as Kyle “I Ain’t A Big Game Pitcher” Lohse.

It was Ozzie’s last year, Tony’s first and the first time back to the World Series since 1987 and the uncomfortable early 90’s era Redbirds… or so I thought.

Up three games to one in the best of seven series against the Atlanta Braves, the jockstraps came off a team that simply couldn’t score any runs; and instead of spending the last days of October in complete ecstasy, the 17-year old me stayed locked away in a dark closet, reading Nietzsche by a flashlight, ultimately coming back to the same redundant question: WHAT… IS… THE POINT?

I still don’t know. What is the point? Why get so worked up over something so silly? I wish I knew. And, for RSBS‘ sake, I sure hope Mr. Krause doesn’t have to find out. Not this year. So yeah, um… go Tigers.

Allen’s Tigers are in the Series and the Cardinals are still trying to earn their bid. If the Cards don’t make it, will you cheer for the Tigers?

Anne

Fort Royal, IN_________________________

Hold it right there, Ms. Anne from Fort Royal. Are you insinuating that the Cardinals might not make it to the World Series? SHAME. SHAME! SHAME!!!

Oh the possibility does bring fear into my being, but THIS… IS… WAR!!!

I can not even begin to envision a Cardinals-less World Series, so to postulate me possibly rooting on THE ENEMY seems as blasphemous as using the Paul Ryan marathon calculator to report my times to my peers!

Will I root for the Tigers? Pssh. Will I also cut out my own stomach with a butter knife and eat it whole? Will I also canvas door-to-door for the Republican party thumping a bible in people’s faces? Will I eat at the Olive Garden?

Hell. To the NO.

My only focus right now is TONIGHT. In San Francisco.

This. Means. War.

Don’t hate me ‘cuz I’m right.

Peace,

Jeff

Have a topic you want to see us Filibuster? Send us your Filibuster questions by emailing RSBSblog@gmail.com or by commenting below.

Whether we’re talking about getting drunk and hitting the Taco Bell drive-thru at 4 a.m. or the state of my phone after a fast-movin’ night at the Roxbury, this much is known: things blow up.

This much is ALSO known: nothing blows up quite like the internet. I had a front row seat to the Twittersphere when Michael Jackson died (for real that time) and was amazed at how far-reaching this convoluted series of tubes really is.

But the REAL explosion has yet to come. Hopefully, it will come tonight — Friday night. Hopefully the Cardinals will wrap up the San Francisco Giants’ futile efforts, kick back and wait for those cute little kitties to come to town.

That’s right, my fellow US Americans. An RSBS World Series is on the horizon…

Guess? Eric, in my world, Guess is a brand of jeans, not a verb. This, my friend, is destiny.

The Tigers and Cardinals have a history and that history refuses to be delayed by something as simple as the Washington Nationals. Now, a Nationals team with Stephen Strasburg taking the ball in games 1 and 5, that could have been a different story. But as we all know, Strasburg wasn’t there and the Nats couldn’t make a 6-0 lead hold up in game 5. On top of that, the Cards got a huge boost with the successful return of Chris Carpenter.

So, let’s do the math. The Cards add Carpenter while the Nats subtract Strasburg. If the old adage that “Pitching wins championships” is true, then the Nats never had a chance. And the facts bear this out.

Now, to be fair, none of this entered my thought processes while making my predictions. I didn’t sit down and draw out the strengths and weaknesses of the teams or look at the probable pitching match-ups. That wasn’t necessary.

Here’s the thing: The Nats are a young team with a bunch of stars and they’ll be back. They have a great bullpen (despite Storen’s meltdown in Game 5) and with pitchers like Zimmerman and Strasburg along with stars like Harper, they have a bright future. The Cards, though, they’ve been here before and they know how to deal with the pressure. On top of that, they barely even made it in and without a lucky in-field fly-rule call during the play-in, they probably wouldn’t even be here. Since no one expects them to do much, despite being the defending champions, there’s very little pressure. They have nothing to lose.

But let me get back to my original point. This wasn’t some sort of lucky guess. This is destiny. The Tigers and Cards have a date in the World Series and it’s an encounter that promises to divide the RSBS team. We’ll see you there.

-A

Have a topic you want to see us Filibuster? Send us your Filibuster questions by emailing RSBSblog@gmail.com or by commenting below.

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